Saturday’s clash with Cherries set to be memorable day at Loftus Road for QPR

Brent & Kilburn Times: Matt Smith scored for Queens Park Rangers in their friendly defeat at Union Berlin on Monday night (pic: Steve Paston/PA)Matt Smith scored for Queens Park Rangers in their friendly defeat at Union Berlin on Monday night (pic: Steve Paston/PA) (Image: PA Wire/PA Images)

Queens Park Rangers will honour one of their most iconic players on Saturday when they host Premier League side Bournemouth in the ‘Just For Stan’ match.

The fixture has been arranged to honour the legendary former QPR winger Stan Bowles, who has Alzheimer’s.

At least £15,000 from ticket sales for the clash with the Cherries will go the QPR No.10 Foundation, a charitable fund that will assist ex-players, staff and their dependents of which Bowles will be the first recipient.

Tickets are still available for the fixture, with adults priced at £12 and seniors and under-18s priced at £6.

The match will also be the first time this season that QPR take to the Loftus Road pitch ahead of the start of the new Championship term on August 5 at home to Reading, who were beaten in May’s play-off final.

And striker Matt Smith is looking forward to returning to W12 for the first time this summer.

Smith, who scored in Monday’s 2-1 friendly loss at Union Berlin, told the club website: “We’re looking forward to getting back to our stadium.

“We’ve done a lot of travelling in pre-season so we’re excited to be back playing at our home ground, which I can say as a group of players we really enjoy playing at.

“It should be a great day for the fans to pay a special tribute to a special player, who is widely-regarded as one of the best players QPR have ever had.”

Smith’s goal against the German second-tier side on Monday will provide a welcome boost for the forward with the new season just over a week away.

But while the 28-year-old acknowledges that getting on the scoresheet is always a positive, he says pre-season counts for little when the league campaign begins.

He added: “Scoring breeds confidence so that’s always nice. I’ve had pre-seasons where I’ve not scored goals and hit the ground running at the start of the season.

“I’ve also had times when I’ve scored a few in pre-season, but not been amongst the goals once the campaign kicks off. The goal counts for nothing, but it was nice to score, of course it was.”

Even if he says pre-season goals are not an indicator of how a season may pan out, Smith would surely love to get on the scoresheet again as the clock continues to tick down to the new Championship campaign.